Archive for Scott Sumner
My Son On How to Help the Third World
I asked my 8-year-old how the rich United States could help horribly poor Bangladesh. He said, “Have 747s fly over Bangladesh and dump $100,000,000,000 out of the cargo bay. It will make them richer and help us at the same time.” Cute, huh? Ha ha, got you. That wasn’t my son at all, it was […]
Read moreSumner Turns His Interest Rate Liability Into an Asset
I have long said that I would be much more confident debating Paul Krugman than Scott Sumner. I disagree with Krugman on economics, you see, but with Sumner our disagreement is almost metaphysical. For example, Austrians like me think that the 1929 stock market crash was (partially) due to expansionary Fed policy during the 1920s, […]
Read moreQuestions for Keynesians
1) When it comes to the “zero lower bound,” what’s the relevant maturity? Scott Sumner and Tyler Cowen are celebrating the end of the liquidity trap, but their argument makes no sense to me: Short-term Treasury yields are still basically zero, and long-term yields were never near zero. But then, if the Keynesian answer is […]
Read moreIt’s Easy to Be Right When You Don’t Admit You Were Wrong
I’m going to be laying into my two favorite bloggers–Paul Krugman and Scott Sumner–for their slippery handling of the recent rise in Treasury yields. As I’ve said several times on this blog, I think Krugman and Scott do this a lot (Krugman is more annoying about it); it’s just that this is a particularly obvious […]
Read moreCommon Sense vs. Scott Sumner
I am at Porcfest–lots of video forthcoming–so perhaps I’m missing nuances here, but my understanding is: (1) The Fed announced it would scale back its purchases of Treasuries and other assets (depending on the situation) in such a way, as to make the markets think that the Fed was going to tighten sooner than previously […]
Read moreWho Said It?
“Always focus on the labor market. Keep that in equilibrium and the free market can handle the rest.” (A) John Maynard Keynes (B) Paul Samuelson (C) Paul Krugman (D) Robert Reich (E) Scott Sumner (F) Super Grover (After you choose, go here for the answer.)
Read moreApplying Krugmanian Lessons to the 1990s
Poor Alex Tabarrok. He makes a simple blog post, pointing out the hilarious heads-we-win-tails-you-lose stance of Krugman et al., and the targets of his critique focus on something completely incidental. I will probably muddy the waters myself by focusing on the “incidental” part of his post, but so be it. First, though, let’s review: 1) […]
Read moreNick Rowe Has Solved the Mystery of the Great Recession
Relying on a “very important post” from David Beckworth, Nick informs us that the financial crisis of 2008 occurred because people began expecting it in 2005. Call me hard to please, but I want more, Nick.
Read more
Recent Comments